Property Taxes Law Guide – Revision 2015

Property Tax Annotations

550.0000 LANDS OWNED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS THAT ARE OUTSIDE THEIR BOUNDARIES

Annotation 550.0020

550.0020 Possessory Interests Limits. Section 11(f) of article XIII of the California Constitution is a restatement of former article XIII, section 1.68. The object of this section is to insure that a privately owned leasehold in taxable public lands does not escape taxation by means of the arbitrary ceiling on the assessment of the fee to a public entity.

When the full assessed value of the fee exceeds the maximum assessment permissible under section 11, the excess value constitutes an exemption accruing to the owning local government. Thus, if a leasehold interest in such lands is owned by a private lessee, a separate assessment of the possessory interest should be made at the lower of (1) the full assessable value of the possessory interest or (2) an amount representing the difference between the full assessable value of the fee and the amount of the actual assessment against the local government. C 4/27/1979; C 1/9/1997.